ideon export <generationId> <path>

What This Command Does

ideon export assembles a self-contained, portable markdown file from a previously generated article by:

1. Reading the source markdown from the generation directory.
2. Loading its .links.json sidecar (both customLinks and links) and injecting them inline into the body text.
3. Copying all locally referenced images to the destination directory, preserving their relative sub-paths.
4. Writing the enriched markdown to <path>/<slug>.md.

The original generation directory and sidecar are left untouched.

Usage

ideon export <generationId> <path> [--index <n>] [--overwrite]

Arguments and Options

Flag/Argument	Required	Type	Default	Description
<generationId>	Yes	string	n/a	Generation folder id (e.g. 20260418-185448-my-article) or the article's frontmatter slug.
<path>	Yes	string	n/a	Destination directory for the exported file and images. Created if it does not exist.
--index <n>	No	positive integer	1	Which primary article variant to export when a generation produced more than one.
--overwrite	No	boolean flag	false	Replace the destination file if it already exists. Without this flag the command fails with an error if the file is present.

Output File Naming

The exported file is named after the slug field in the article's YAML frontmatter:

<path>/<slug>.md

Image Handling

All Markdown image references of the form ![alt](relative/path) are detected and copied to the destination, maintaining the same relative sub-path structure. Absolute URLs and data URIs are ignored.

If a referenced image file is missing from the source generation directory the command fails immediately with an error describing the missing file.

Link Injection

Links are loaded from the sidecar <article>.links.json file. Both customLinks and links arrays are merged and applied. If no sidecar exists, the markdown is exported as-is without link injection.

The YAML frontmatter block is preserved exactly as written; link injection only applies to the body text.

Overwrite Guard

Without --overwrite, if <path>/<slug>.md already exists the command exits with an error before writing anything. This prevents accidental overwrites.

Examples

Export the most recently generated article to ~/exports/:

ideon export 20260418-185448-metabolic-stability ~/exports/

Export by slug (shorthand when the slug is unique):

ideon export metabolic-stability-protocol ~/exports/

Export the second variant in a multi-article generation:

ideon export 20260418-185448-my-article ~/exports/ --index 2

Export even if the file already exists:

ideon export my-article ~/exports/ --overwrite

Related Commands

• ideon links <slug> — update the .links.json sidecar before exporting.
• ideon preview — serve articles locally with live link rendering without exporting.